Tohoku Forum for Creativity has newly established the Design Hub for our Future Society in 2020. At the Design Hub for our Future Society, outstanding researchers from around the world and from Tohoku University work together to create visions for the future, including collaborations between academia and industry. The hub aims to solve common societal issues and to achieve research results intended for swift implementation into society.
To achieve this aim, the TFC will host “Future Society Design Programs,” which will give researchers the opportunity to organize workshops and carry out collaborative research with distinguished international scientists for the solution of common societal issues in collaboration with industries. These programs will have ambitious, interdisciplinary content with the potential to implement the discussion results and proposals into society.
Each program will be held at Tohoku University for a period of about one month and will include the hosting of an academic event such as a workshop or conference with university researchers, students, industry employees, citizens, etc.
What we offer
The TFC will provide a budget of up to ¥3 million with which to run the program. Financial support from industries and/or funding agencies is highly expected. The money can be used to pay for the travel expenses of researchers who will participate in the program.
The TFC will also help the organizers during the planning and preparation stages of the programs. In addition, the TFC staff will provide comprehensive logistic support to invite researchers to participate in the events as well as preparing advertisements for the programs.
How to Prepare a Future Society Design Programs Proposal
To prepare a proposal, potential organizers should first select an innovative, challenging, and interdisciplinary research theme to base their program on.
Once the theme has been selected, the organizers should then identify at least one world-leading researcher who will agree to participate in the program as a long-term stay visitor. These long-term stay researchers will spend a minimum of three weeks at Tohoku University and will act as key contributors to the program.
The organizers should decide what type of academic events would be most suitable for their program and which international researchers they would like to invite for short-term visits to participate in the events.
Together, these components will contribute to the production of a successful a future society design program proposal.
Program outcomes
During the future society design program, the organizers will form an international research community consisting of Tohoku University's outstanding researchers and world-renowned experts from other institutions and industries. The organizers will work on the co-creation of visions through international industry-academia collaboration and address the most pressing issues of future society.They are also expected to propose solutions to common social problems and the social implementation of research results.